Hope–When Life Hurts Most

Introduction: Several months back I attended Iron Sharpens Iron, a Christian Men’s conference. There were about 3200 men in attendance, and though the main speakers were very good, I was most impressed by the 16 breakout sessions and the topics covered by them. You see, what I observed was that most of the 3200+ men in attendance were there because of various troubles that are common to all men, and these men were there to deal with those troubles in their lives. And some men were there to help other men deal with those same troubles.

I attended the conference mainly to re-establish some connections to Christian men that have long been lacking in my life, but did not attend specifically to deal with my own personal troubles. I did pick out a couple of the breakout sessions and am glad that I did, for they were indeed helpful.

Along the way at the conference I stopped by the book and music tables and bought something; I don’t even remember what it was, but as an added low cost bonus a Video was included by a man named Louie Giglio titled “Indescribable”; that video and that man’s messages are what I want to bring to you in this essay.

The Heart of Passion is the title of a series of five messages that that I have watched and listened to over the past several days and want to share with you. You can get the series yourself for about $40.00 and I encourage you to do so for they contain some of the best teaching on God’s essential essence and being you will likely hear anywhere.

Louie starts out in the first talk Indescribable, with a lot of incredible astronomy and Hubble Space Telescope pictures of the universe and weaves them into an attempt to describe the majestic size of God and the smallness of each and every one of us, and the awesome relationship we can experience in such a mismatched relationship. Let me give you a hint here, this relationship is spelled GRACE.

How Great Is Our God picks up on the theme of Indescribable by delving into the intricate and wondrous manner in which each of us is created and formed. DNA and cellular biology are key to his treatment in this talk and you leave with a real sense of awe at the hidden beauty of our own being.

HOPE – When Life Hurts Most speaks powerfully about dealing with the troubles which come into our lives. The troubles Louie is talking about in this two part message are not the small troubles of life, but life altering and faith challenging troubles that come into every life at one point or another. Giglio tells the story of Ashley; of her party girl lifestyle, the story of her coming to faith in Jesus and her death shortly thereafter. But Ashley’s story does not end in her death, but continues as her family, using the tragedy of Ashley’s untimely death as a megaphone, proclaim God’s grace to a troubled world .

Fruitcake And Ice Cream delves deeper into the life of Ashley and her family with Giglio actually reading from Ashley’s journal as she transitions from party girl to a woman of faith. What’s interesting about this amazing story is that Ashley and Louie had never met, and Ashley’s atheist father has become a good friend of Louie during this time of deep family trouble.

I hope I have tweaked your curiosity and interest, and would be interested in your reactions should you decide to give this series a shot.

One response to “Hope–When Life Hurts Most”

How often God uses the death of a loved on to reach those who have not considered their own destiny and realize they need a Savior. This is especially common when someone who has died has lead a legacy of their own life and found the truth of eternity. This is surely the grace of God. Funnerals are for the those still living so they can question their own standing considering salvation and eternity. Upon your last breath on this earth your eternity decsion is taken out of your hands. How awesome if our own death would leave an impact that would affect others lives into a decision of eternal salvation. Looking at the universe can make you realize how small you are. However, from God’s perspedctive your personal decision to realize He has provided you a path for salvation and not only did you accept it but you used this gift to impact others, is much larger then the universe. For He has called us His personal treasure.